This NKY developer will pay to turn Frankfort GOP

Northern Kentucky developer Dick Knock knows what he wants from Frankfort, and he's willing to pay for it.

He has resurrected a so-called 'Super PAC' to help the Republicans gain five more seats in the House, giving them control of both the House and Senate. He hopes that will yield more business-friendly state tax laws.

Knock's political action committee, Americans for Growth, Opportunity and Prosperity (AmeriGOP) will back 10 Republican candidates for state House.

None of the House races are in Northern Kentucky since the two Democrat incumbents are unchallenged.

Knock, of Union, started AmeriGOP in 2012 to help U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie win election to Congress representing the 4th District in Northern Kentucky; the group spent $100,000 helping Massie win a crowded primary.

Knock wouldn't specify what tax changes he wants, but he believes a Republican-controlled legislature would give tax incentives to prevent departures like that of Omnicare and the Nielsen Co. from Covington in 2011. Those departures took more than 1,000 jobs combined to Cincinnati.

He hopes to raise $200,000 by August to run ads on television, radio and newspaper.

"Right now, the state legislature is permitting Ohio to skunk us at every corner," Knock said.

As campaigns get more expensive, state and local races will need super PACs to compete, experts said. The New York mayor's race saw a heavy involvement by super PACs, said David Donnelly, executive director of the Public Campaign Action Fund, a nonprofit election rights activist group that supports campaign finance limits.

"It means local elections will begin to look like federal elections," Donnelly said. "Those who have obscene amounts of money will call the shots. Lawmakers who are elected by big contributors will be the ones who call the shots in the state legislature."

Knock, however, said his goal is to improve Kentucky's business environment, which he feels the Democratic Party – which controlled both the Senate and the House for most of the 20th Century – didn't do.

"I think that everybody should be entitled to give as much money as they want," Knock said. "Limits are a violation of free speech."

The price tag on the average state House race for each candidate in Kentucky has gone from $18,929 in 2002 to $52,460 in 2012, according to the National Institute of Money in State Politics. Winning these races often requires the help of super PACs, said Jamie Comer, Agriculture Commissioner of Kentucky and potential 2015 Republican gubernatorial candidate who is helping to raise money for AmeriGOP.

"Money is very important, unfortunately, in politics," Comer said. "It's for name (identification). A lot of these seats where Republicans have good shots at winning, they're running against incumbents who have the advantage of incumbency. The challenger has to have more money to get their name out there to level the playing field."

Knock believes he can have the same impact that AmeriGOP and another super PAC, Liberty For All, had in Massie's 2012 race that launched his Congressional career.

AmeriGOP spent $100,000 in mailers supporting Massie. Liberty for All, which was financed by a 22-year-old Texas millionaire, spent more than $560,000 on ads and mailers.

Liberty For All needed to ramp up Massie's name recognition fast, said Preston Bates, a Louisville-native who served as executive director for Liberty for All during Massie's campaign. Few knew who Massie was in the spring of 2012. He was the judge-executive of the rural Lewis County office and in a Republican Primary with six other candidates--two of whom were far more well known in the population center of Northern Kentucky.

Liberty for All set up shop in the upstairs of an office building in Bellevue, Ky with a phalanx of computers, databases and staffers canvassing the Northern Kentucky neighborhoods for votes and information.

"No one knew who Thomas Massie was when we started," Bates said. "We had to help get him from long shot outsider to leading contender within 30 days."

Knock predicted 7 or eight of the candidates he's backed this fall will get elected.

"If the political climate continues as it is right now, one that is favoring the Republicans, perhaps we have a good shot at carrying all of them," Knock said.

They can spend this money to advocate for or against political candidates but cannot contribute directly toward a candidates campaign.

Regular PACs can contribute directly to candidates but are limited in the amounts they can raise and spend.

PACs can give $5,000 to a candidate committee per election. They can also give up to $15,000 annually to any national party committee, and $5,000 annually to any other PAC. PACs may receive up to $5,000 from any one individual, PAC or party committee per year.